"Protect America Act" Protects Violators of Civil Liberties

The "Protect America Act," as it was called, allowed unwarranted spying on innocent Americans. Bush fed several lies about the legislation to the Congress and the American public. He said that the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) needed to be updated to account for new technology. In fact, FISA was specifically created to be neutral to technological advancements. There is absolutely NO new technology immune from interception with a warrant. The key word here is "warrant." Bush wanted the ability to spy on Americans without a warrant. He wanted to completely circumvent the court so that no one would know on whom his administration was spying or why.

Bush has also claimed that the "Protect America Act" only authorizes spying on foreigners. This is another lie. Any American communicating with any person in a foreign country can be monitored without a warrant. Any phone call or email leaving the United States is fair game under this act. The fact is that spies and terrorists were already aware that they were being monitored. The difference that this act made is the ability to spy on Americans without a warrant.

This act also protects companies like AT&T and Verizon from prosecution for their parts they played in the monitoring of U.S. citizens. No U.S. company or officer of said company should be exempt from prosecution if they violated the Constitution of the United States, no matter how wealthy or powerful.

The Constitution should be obeyed. The falsely named "Protect America Act" should be repealed. Please send Congress a message. Visit http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=81 to take action and keep this terrible piece of legislation from being renewed.

Satellite Loses Power

Weeks Away From Hitting Earth

What Aren't They Telling Us?

The report contains this sentence. "The satellite, which no longer can be controlled, could contain hazardous materials..." Ok, either it does or it does not, and NASA knows. They knew what the satellite contained when it was put into orbit, so they know whether or not it contains hazardous materials. I am almost certain that it does, otherwise they would have made the definitive statement that it does not. My guess is that they are waiting to see where they think it might land before they decide whether or not they are going to make us aware of any "hazardous materials." If it lands in the ocean or a remote part of a continent (a high likelihood), they will not have to share with us any of that information because there is very little chance that anyone will get to the satellite wreckage before the government. However, if there is a strong possibility of the satellite coming down in a populated area, they will not be able to keep it quiet. There will be the possibility of harm to human beings from the crash itself and the spread of radiation and/or other materials. I think we have a right to know now. Our tax dollars helped put the thing into orbit, so let's have some "freedom of information" to know just what might be raining down upon us in a couple of weeks. I swear that this country becomes more like the former Soviet Union everyday. "We'll tell you what we want you to know."

Obama Wins South Carolina

BraveNewFilms.org not so brave...

I was just watching coverage of the South Carolina democratic primaries on BraveNewFilms.org and at first was very impressed. They had Cenk Uygur from "The Young Turks" reporting on the primary with a live stream. It was great to see. However, when I made one comment in the live chat on the site, saying that I would not vote for Hillary. After that, every comment that I made was filtered. Amazing! I made no attacks upon any person. I simply made a statement that I would not vote for Hillary and became banned from the dialogue. What a frightened bunch of cowards. As soon as someone attempted create some debate about who should be the next democratic candidate for president, they shut me down. The poor frightened pansies...

Jim Broderick Should Serve At Least 10 Years

When a man's arrogance and bloated ego do not allow him to admit that he is wrong, especially when his decisions can ruin another man's life, I am almost convinced that death by hanging would be a fair punishment. However, I am strongly opposed to the death penalty. What did Jim Broderick do that has me so enraged? Well, when he was an investigator with the Fort Collins police department, he made a decision, based completely on what he thought of another man's character, charging him with murder and doggedly pursuing that man, Mr. Masters, for 11 years until he was able to get a conviction. The truth - Tim Masters has been proven innocent by DNA evidence after serving about a decade in prison. AND, evidence that was hidden during trial that shows Broderick not only broke the law in the way he collected evidence (and then hid evidence that would have helped Masters case). Broderick then committed perjury on the witness stand. Jail time is too good for Jim Broderick (now a lieutenant in charge of - get this - Fort Collins Police Department Internal Affairs division), but give him a decade sitting beside the same guys that Masters knew in prison. He might wish for the death penalty.

Now, the Fort Collins police chief, Dennis Harrison, is asking people "not to rush to judgement" as they investigate Lt. Broderick. I ask, "Why not, Chief Harrison? Your whole department rushed to judge Tim Masters, an innocent man." Now that I think about it, everyone involved in this case, from the investigating officers to the judge should be investigated. Cases like this are happening across the country, and it's because government has lost its fear of the citizenry. We need to make them afraid again. They need to again realize that they are public servants, paid by our tax dollars. We need to demand that we receive honest work for an honest wage. Today, we don't seem to be getting that from many people in all levels of government. Is it time for another revolution?

Paulson, Bernanke, & Bush Making Economy Tank

The proposed "economic stimulus package" from the Bush administration is "too little, too late" and actually exacerbates the underlying difficulties that Americans are currently experiencing. What is being proposed are tax cuts that will increase consumer spending, raise prices even further, and be of no assistance in the debt to asset ratio that is already hurting so many consumers caught in a severe mortgage crisis. It is a fact that higher prices in oil have already worked their way through the economy causing the consumer to pay higher prices for practically everything they need to survive. Meanwhile, higher wages are non-existent and healthcare costs also continue to climb.

What does the Bush "plan" actually provide to the average American taxpayer? Some analysts have suggested that most people will see a $250 tax break. Think about this. Two hundred fifty extra dollars in your tax return is not enough to make a mortgage payment. Even if the $250 is put back into the economy in the form of consumer spending, it will not stop the recession (which I believe began last quarter). When everything from groceries to automobile parts cost 30% more than they did 2 years ago, but wages have remained flat, there is no way to stop a recession from occurring. It certainly cannot be stopped by increasing inflation and sinking the dollar to new all-time lows against currencies of other industrialized nations. I don't know about you, but this is the first time during my lifetime that the Canadian dollar has traded at a premium to the U.S. dollar. Bush can talk all he wants about lowering taxes, but THERE IS NO GREATER FINANCIAL TAX THAT YOU CAN PLACE ON THE WORKING CLASS THAN INFLATION. And inflation happens when the dollar's value deteriorates - it takes more dollars to buy the same products.

So, what are going to about this? Are going to allow Bush & Co. to crap on us one more time, or are we going to scream bloody murder until they start addressing the real issues behind this recession? Remember, it was just 8 years ago that we had a balanced budget and no deficit spending. If we can have it under a Democrat as President, surely we can have it under a Republican if he sticks to the ideals of his party.

Elections: A Delegate Situation

Our election system has many flaws, the most serious of them - in my opinion - being the lack of accountability and security in casting and counting votes. However, another problem that is almost as important is the use of delegates to send to a convention where the candidates for the major parties will be selected. I have just looked at the numbers from the Iowa Caucuses, and I find them to be quite disturbing. See if they make sense to you.

For reference, the population of Iowa is 2,926,324. The percentage of the population who cast a vote in this caucus: 4%

On the Republican side:

• Delegates at stake: 40 
• Super Delegates: 0
• Total Votes Cast for Republicans (with 96% of precincts reporting): 116,114
• Percentage of Total Population Casting Republican Votes: 3.96%

Candidate Numbers (with 96% of precincts reporting)

• Mike Huckabee - Votes Received: 39,814 (34%)  Delegates Received: 30 (75%)
• Mitt Romney - Votes Received: 29,405 (25%)  Delegates Received: 7 (17.5%)
• Fred Thompson - Votes Received: 15,521 (13%)  Delegates Received: 0 (0%)
• John McCain - Votes Received: 15,248 (13%)  Delegates Received: 0 (0%)
• Ron Paul - Votes Received: 11,598 (10%)  Delegates Received: 0 (0%)
• Rudy Giuliani - Votes Received: 4,013 (3%)  Delegates Received: 0 (0%)
• Duncan Hunter - Votes Received: 515 (0%)  Delegates Received: 0 (0%)

Percentage of Voters Ignored by Delegates: 46%

On the Democrat side:

• Delegates at stake: 57
• Super Delegates: 0
• Total Votes Cast for Democrats: 2,497
• Percentage of Total Population Casting Democrat Votes: 0.09%

Candidate Numbers (with all precincts reporting)

• Barack Obama - Votes Received: 940 (38%)  Delegates Received: 16 (28%)
• John Edwards - Votes Received: 744 (30%)  Delegates Received: 14 (24.5%)
• Hillary Clinton - Votes Received: 737 (30%)  Delegates Received: 15 (26%)
• Bill Richardson - Votes Received: 52 (2%)  Delegates Received: 0 (0%)
• Joe Biden - Votes Received: 23 (1%)  Delegates Received: 0 (0%)
• Chris Dodd - Votes Received: 1 (0%)  Delegates Received: 0 (0%)
• Mike Gravel - Votes Received: 0 (0%)  Delegates Received: 0 (0%)
• Dennis Kucinich - Votes Received: 0 (0%)  Delegates Received: 0 (0%)

Percentage of Voters Ignored by Delegates: 22.5%

This is screwed up! It's RIDICULOUS! Less than 8% of eligible voters went to the polls to vote in this Caucus. In the Democrat's Caucus only 2,497 total votes were cast to win a total of 57 delegates. That's insane!! Only 44 votes per delegate?! Why? hmmm.... let's see. Could it be that the voters believe that their vote will count for NOTHING?!? Thirty percent of all Iowans are registered as Independents. They are automatically shut out of the Caucuses. This is abhorrent, but I will save that discussion for another time. The huge majority of the remaining registered voters do not vote in the primaries, and it is no wonder. If I had voted in the Republican Caucus for Fred Thompson (who received 13% of the vote), my vote would have been for NOTHING! Mr. Thompson will not receive a delegate from this Caucus. If I had voted in the Democratic Caucus for Barack Obama, my vote may well have been one of the 26% of the votes for Mr. Obama that will not be represented by a delegate. Again, I would have voted for NOTHING!

Everyday, the federal government steals more and more of our wealth, our freedoms, and our country away from us. If want it to stop, you cannot keep your mouth shut and sit on your hands.

TomTom Sucks!

Since I have problems with short term memory, recalling directions when driving can be a real burden for me. So, when my wife purchased a TomTom ONE v3 (approx. $149) as a Christmas gift for me, I was very happy. To try it out, we used it on our trip to Virginia which we made the day after Christmas to visit her parents. To see how well the "ONE" would do compared to my wife's Garmin c550 (approx. $349), we took both devices along and ran them at the same time during the trip. At first glance, the Garmin is bulkier and not as "cool" in appearance as the TomTom. One advantage for the Garmin, however, is that it came with its own carrying pouch. The TomTom did not. Before I tell you about the "side-by-side" results, I want to tell you about my "setup" experience with the ONE.

From the point of opening the package until setup was completed, TomTom made everything an absolute chore. We had to cut the ONE out of its molded plastic packaging with heavy duty scissors. After that, I followed the setup instructions, step-by-step, and not until yesterday (January 2, 2008) was I able to create a passcode for the ONE. In addition, I had great difficulty getting either the ONE's software or TomTom's Home 2 software to recognize that I live in the United States. I had repeatedly tried to purchase accessories from TomTom for the ONE, but every price was listed in Euros instead of U.S. dollars. I finally uninstalled and reinstalled TomTom Home 2 after clearing all my temp files. This allowed me (at last) to see prices in U.S. dollars but also made me aware that I could not purchase John Cleese' voice clips. Apparently only those who live in Europe can purchase his quips for their TomTom devices.

You would think that the TomTom Home 2 software would be able to automatically determine which device I own since I had the ONE directly connected to my computer via USB, but that was not the case. I had to enter a "device code" in order for the ONE to be properly identified. Oh, and if you want technical support from TomTom, forget it. It's only by email - at least if you live in the U.S. - and even then you get quoted the same garbage that is listed in the FAQ information on the website. After a week's time and much frustration, I was finally able to have the ONE completely registered with the correct information and setup properly, no thanks to TomTom.

The Garmin was so much easier to setup that I am not going to bother commenting on it except to say that the c550 blew away the ONE in this area.

Ok, now for the side-by-side performance comparison - with both the Garmin and the TomTom given the same ending point, we headed out from our home in Pennsylvania to my parents-in-law in Virginia. My initial impression of TomTom's mapping was not favorable because it sees my home location as being one block west of my actual location. I still have not been able to rectify this error. Other than that, I would have to give both GPS devices very high marks for mapping and turn-by-turn highway directions. The TomTom does a slightly better job of directing you by telling you which lane to be in before turning instead of simply instructing you to stay to the left or to the right - like the Garmin, which is of little help if there are four lanes of traffic and they eventually split into four different directions. I also preferred the visual mapping on the TomTom to the Garmin. My wife preferred the visuals on the Garmin.

On to the POI (Points of Interest) - as TomTom calls them (restaurants, gas stations, rest stops, shopping centers, etc.) - this is where Garmin leaves TomTom in the dust. With NO exaggeration, for ALL 4 OF OUR STOPS along the route, the Garmin gave pinpoint directions to each location, while the TomTom misdirected us by 2 blocks to 3/4 of a mile for each location. In wide open rural areas, this was not such a problem, but in heavily congested areas, it made navigating a real headache. Even the new option of having Google maps send information directly to the TomTom did not help it do a better job in locating these points of interest. In trying to find one of the restaurants, the ONE directed us to go past the restaurant by another half mile.

Ok, now for the final destination - although neither device could locate the exact point of my parents-in-law's  house, at least the Garmin got us to the right street and only two doors away. The TomTom became completely lost once we entered the community. It had no idea where the street, let alone the house, was located.

Here are my final marks for the TomTom ONE and the Garmin c550. The top mark is 4 .

	TomTom ONE v3	Garmin StreetPilot c550
Setup
Highway Mapping
Verbal Instructions
Points of Interest     Number of locations     Accuracy in directions to POI

As you can see, the Garmin c550 is a clear winner. If Garmin tweaks its verbal instructions a bit, the c550 would not receive a single demerit from me. TomTom, however, has MILES to go before it is in the same league with Garmin. The final question is, are the advantages of the Garmin worth $200 to you? Considering the amount of time I wasted on setup with the TomTom and the amount of gas and time I would have wasted using only the TomTom on our trip to Virginia, the Garmin is certainly worth the extra $200 to us. I will be donating my TomTom to a local charity and picking up a Garmin of my own ASAP.